Priest named as bishop defends investigation into Arlington monastery
ARLINGTON (CBSNewsTexas) — A Catholic bishop testified for hours in a civil court in Fort Worth Tuesday, defending his handling of an investigation into a nun at an Arlington monastery, and arguing the divisive battle did not belong in a state court.
The evidence allowed in by Judge Don Cosby, which will determine if the court has jurisdiction to allow the lawsuit to proceed, included a 41-minute audio recording of Bishop Michael Olson's April conversation with the Reverend Mother Teresa Gerlach.
In that recording, Gerlach admitted to breaking her vow of chastity with a priest twice, over the phone. She named him in the recording as Bernard Murray, with the Transalpine Redemptorist in Montana. While Gerlach did not describe what happened with the priest, Olson testified a sister at the monastery later told him the two had been "sexting."
Attorneys for the diocese introduced the evidence in an effort to show Olson's actions—dismissing Gerlach from her position and taking over administration of the monastery—were all part of a church-approved investigation.
"From the inception of this case, this was an ecclesiastical matter from which this court does not have jurisdiction," said attorney Michael Anderson.
Gerlach's attorney Matthew Bobo had strongly objected to the evidence being introduced, calling it "life changing stuff," that canonical church lawyers had kept even from him until last Friday.
He argued the case is a unique circumstance with the monastery being independent from the diocese, and that it could not take property, impede on operations, and defame the reverend mother all in the name of a church inquiry.
Testimony Tuesday from Father Jonathan Wallis, a vicar general with the Fort Worth Diocese, revealed Gerlach had first disclosed her broken vow to him on Dec. 22, when he reached out to arrange Christmas Eve Mass for the nuns at the monastery in Arlington.
He testified he spoke to her again on Christmas Eve, and she said she had told Sister Frances Therese, who had become angry with her and told her she was taken advantage of. Wallis said Gerlach countered that she was falling in love with the priest, and what happened was consensual.
Wallis said he spoke on the phone with Gerlach again on Jan. 5, and she said she was nervous and going to the doctor because she was late.
"I took it as a potential pregnancy," Wallis said.
He didn't go right away to Bishop Olson with the information though, believing Gerlach would ultimately bring the information forward.
On cross examination, Wallis said the information was not protected by confidentiality, and that church laws allowed him flexibility in what he did and did not bring to the bishop's attention.
He eventually told Olson on April 13, and Olson testified he went to the monastery after consulting with Rome, which told him an investigation would be needed, and recommending a canon lawyer to manage the case.
In the recorded conversation with Gerlach, Olson was calm, almost soft spoken. His first question to Gerlach after asking about violating the 6th commandment, was, "Could you please tell me who the priest is?"
She initially declined, but later volunteered the name. Gerlach spoke quickly, trying to explain the priest had never come to the monastery.
"That's something you have changed," Olson said. "We have a hard time with the truth."
Gerlach said at the time she was having seizures and thought her brain "got really messed up." She said her relationship with Murray started when he contacted the community for prayers.
"[We] were writing often to each other, and then we got very close, and that's when it happened," she said. "I was not in my right mind when it happened, at all."
Sister Therese also could be heard saying she understood the bishop had to take action, and that Gerlach at the time was taking medication that messed up her mind.
Olson suggested a medical assessment would be important, and suggested psychological or psychiatric care may benefit her. He informed her that he was placing her on leave, confining her to a guest room, and prohibiting her from using a phone or computer. He also insisted that she turn over those devices to a diocese employee.
Olson says he never used the data from those devices to aid his investigation.
"Because she said they happened," when asked about that decision after the hearing, her word was sufficient—along with information from others—to find her guilty and to have her removed from her position.
Under cross examination from Bobo, Olson said he hasn't seen any actual text messages between Gerlach and the priest. He is keeping the data though, he said, in case he receives a call about the priest and then he would have a responsibility to review it.
While Garlach and Therese cooperated that day, a call to a canon lawyer afterward that raised questions about what was happening prompted them to look for outside legal help.
Olson said he had some of the initial details about the investigation posted on the diocese website in May because he was getting inquiries from people and needed to explain why mass was not being offered.
He also spoke about allegations of drug use at the monastery that he made public in late May, which the nuns have made part of their defamation claim against Olson. The information was brought to him by employees on the grounds, he said.
He revealed it was because "there was a press release put out that I was under criminal investigation by the police department in Arlington. That wasn't true."
Arlington police did go to the monastery in May after an attorney for a benefactor of the nuns wrote to the police chief, asking him to look into the situation for any possible criminal charges.
Both attorneys sparred over whether Olson's actions in removing Gerlach from her position, and taking over operations, amounted to him removing a board member from an independent non-profit corporation.
Bobo pointed to monastery constitution and bylaws, which make no allowance for such a move. Anderson and attorney Chase Medlin explained Olson made no effort to put himself on the board, and that he was authorized by church law to dismiss her from the order, which had the effect of removing her from the board of directors.
Judge Cosby described the matter as difficult and emotional, and said he has more reading to do on the evidence and legal citations presented before making a ruling on the court's jurisdiction sometime next week.